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Giants activate Affeldt, option Perez to Triple-A

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants will go with 13 pitchers for the time being after they activated reliever Jeremy Affeldt from the disabled list and optioned outfielder Juan Perez to Triple-A to make room on the 25-man roster.

Manager Bruce Bochy said it’s not an ideal scenario, but the bullpen has been getting a lot of work, partly due to some short outings by the starters and in part thanks to games like Tuesday night’s 12-inning win over the Dodgers. Bochy used his entire bullpen in the win.

"In this case we think we’re better off going this way right now," Bochy said. "As we get (further) and hopefully get some quality starts, a lot of quality starts, we’ll go back down to 12 (relievers)."

Affeldt will likely start out being used in early-innings relief, but he’s capable of turning in multiple innings as well. As for having just one backup outfielder now instead of two, Bochy said he might be inclined to leave Michael Morse in left field deeper into games. Morse has been regularly coming out around the sixth or seventh inning and replaced by either Perez or Gregor Blanco for defensive purposes.

Bochy did say that infielder Brandon Hicks had some practice in left field during spring training to give the Giants more coverage there, and that Ehire Adrianza will also likely start taking fly balls just for more versatility.

Hicks is at second base tonight and Joaquin Arias starts at shortstop. Brandon Crawford felt some tightness in his right hamstring running out a bunt in Tuesday night’s game, and the Giants want to be cautious with Crawford so it doesn’t turn into something more. Crawford said he hopes to be available tomorrow.

Here’s the full Giants lineup tonight against left-hander Paul Maholm:

CF Pagan

RF Pence

3B Sandoval

C Posey

LF Morse

1B Belt

2B Hicks

SS Arias

P Vogelsong

And the Dodgers lineup against Vogelsong:

2B Gordon

LF Crawford

SS Ramirez

1B Gonzalez

CF Kemp

RF Ethier

3B Uribe

C Butera

P Maholm

* Despite the long game Tuesday, which actually ended Wednesday morning, Bochy said the Giants’ bullpen is in pretty good shape -- most of the relievers had short outings save for Juan Gutierrez’s 2 1/3 innings. Bochy credited Gutierrez for an outing that "we don’t win that game without."

Through 14 games, the bullpen has recorded the second-lowest ERA in the majors at 1.89 (10 earned runs in 47 2/3 innings). Take out the first two games in Arizona, and the unit has allowed just four earned runs in their last 39 2/3 innings.

"They’re giving us quality work," Bochy said. "This is going to be critical for our success is that these guys do what they’re doing. They’ve been getting a lot of work, but they’re getting rest, too. So it’s benefited them -- they’re not sitting too long without going out there, but they’re not being overused either."

* Tuesday night’s walk-off hero Hector Sanchez joked with reporters after the game that he wanted to end the game because he had to take his daughter to school early the next morning. So did he wake up in time to take her?

"I didn’t," Sanchez said. "My wife woke up. I couldn’t. It was too early. Six in the morning? No way."

What time did he wake up.

"Eleven-thirty," Sanchez said.

* Vogelsong goes for his first win tonight after lasting a combined nine innings and giving up eight runs on 14 hits in his first two starts. Bochy said he’s looking for Vogelsong to "just maintain that consistency that he’s shown earlier in games."

* According to the Giants’ notes, the 4-hour, 54-minute game Tuesday night marked the second-longest game between the Giants and Dodgers since 1987. The longest was a 15-inning affair on May 2, 1995, which lasted 5 hours, 16 minutes.

* Bochy turns 59 today. The Giants haven’t had much success on their skipper’s birthday in the past, going 2-5 on April 16 since Bochy took over.

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About This Blog

Matt Kawahara has covered baseball for The Sacramento Bee for three years. Kawahara, a McClatchy High School and UC Berkeley graduate, joined The Bee in 2010. Before joining Sports, he was a general assignment news reporter. Reach Kawahara at mkawahara@sacbee.com. Twitter: @matthewkawahara.

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